The topography in this late work by Koninck was probably inspired by the easterm Dutch province of Gelderland but is nonetheless imaginary. Dutch landscapists usually made up their views in the studio, often using drawings from nature for particular motifs. A river landscape of 1676 in the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, is very similar in composition, and features the same elegant hunting boat, a jacht (yacht), to the right.

Catalogue Entry

In this colorful late work of the 1670s, the artist's emphasis is on elegant leisure and the picturesque. The staffage, as usual, is by Koninck himself. No other work in the Museum's extensive collection of Dutch landscape paintings so clearly illustrates the decorative tendency of the genre during the 1670s and 1680s, when for many artists the embellishment of fine interiors became more important than verisimilitude. Koninck never rivaled Jacob van Ruisdael (1628/29–1682) in the study of clouds and trees, but the primary importance of painterly effects in this picture is remarkable nonetheless.

The composition would seem more arbitrarily conceived than those of Koninck's panoramic views of the 1660s, and it finds an apparent counterpart in a canvas of the same dimensions, Extensive River Landscape (private collection), that was separated from the Museum's picture between 1900 and 1908. It is possible that the two paintings were designed as pendants. The MMA canvas is also very close in composition and execution to Koninck's last dated painting, the River Landscape of 1676 (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam). Motifs such as the hunting boat, the country house, and the figures on the road reoccur with minor differences. Unlike the present picture and its possible pendant, the composition of the Amsterdam painting, with its horizon uninterrupted by trees, is reminiscent of Koninck's panoramic landscapes dating from the 1660s. It is possible that the design of the MMA painting evolved from that of the Amsterdam work or from a very similar design. Other paintings by Koninck with trees placed prominently to one side also date from the last years of his activity.